A nice comment on Burning Questions

A compelling must read. Twists and turns in a murder mystery will keep you reading. Just when you think you have figured out whodunnit the story takes another turn. Went to be reading this novel and woke up in the middle of the night to read more.  Jeff Simon, San Diego, posted on FB.

Radio Interview

I was bumped to Oct. 3 so you still have a chance to listen in to
The Ken Hudnall Show
Borderland Radio Network
Wednesday, Oct 3 at 6 pm MT/5 PM PDT
I'll be talking with Ken about my new thriller, The Fourth Conspirator, part 3 of the 1970s Trilogy.
As a bonus, you can get a free e-book copy of part 2 of the 1970s Trilogy, A Shot In The Arm on Amazon Kindle Direct, Oct. 3, 4, and %.
Last Chance for the free copy! Click the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/Shot-Part-1970s-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007R525K4/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349119593&sr=1-1&keywords=a+shot+in+the+arm+willdorf

I'll be on radio tomorrow!

Check out
The Ken Hudnall Show
Borderland Radio Network
Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 6 pm MT/5 PM PDT

I'll be talking with Ken about my new thriller, The Fourth Conspirator, part 3 of the 1970s Trilogy.

And don't forget to get a free e-book copy of part 1, Burning Questions on Amazon Kindle Direct, Sept. 26 and 27th.

Last Chance for the free copy! Click the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/Burning-Questions-1970s-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B005FI5ZP2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1348607447&sr=1-1&keywords=burning+questions

FREE E-BOOK of BURNING QUESTIONS

TODAY, SEPT 17 AND ALSO SEPT. 20, 21, 26 AND 27
YOU CAN GET A FREE COPY OF BURNING QUESTIONS, PART ONE OF THE 1970S TRILOGY AT AMAZON KINDLE DIRECT.
Just click on the link below to get your free copy:

Free e-book copy of Burning Questions

And if you are in hearing distance of the following radio stations; Barry will be appearing on these shows:


KORN 1490 AM Let’s Talk: September 20, 2012, Thursday, 10:30 am CDT/8.30 am PDT
September 26, 2012



The Ken Hudnall Show, Borderland Radio Network, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 : 6 pm MT/5 PM PDT

BARRY'S APPEARANCE SCHEDULE

The Fourth Conspirator is making a splash! Personal appearances and radio are on the way.

• KCMN  RADIO INTERVIEW, Tron in the Morning, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO radio Sept, 17, 2012 6:30 A.M. PST.
• KORN 1490 AM  RADIO INTERVIEW: SEPT. 20, Let’s Talk  Mitchell, SD  Time: TBD.
• September 26, 2012, 6 pm MT/5 PM PDT, The Ken Hudnall Show, Borderland Radio Network, EL Paso, TX
• Litquake: Oct. 7, 2012 2:00 P.M.  @ Bird & Beckett bookstore. 653 Chenery St. S.F, CA.
• Litquake: Oct. 13, 2012, LitCrawl:  WHO DUNNIT MYSTERIES, Forrest Books 3080 16th St., SF, 6 PM

Come on down if you are in SF during Litquake Week. Listen in if you are east of the Rockies and west of the Mississippi. More to come! 

THREE FIVE-STARS FOR BURNING QUESTIONS!

It's rare to have so much fun reading a book. It has all the elements. There is a great mystery and who done it. There is a cast of characters you love and wonder about. The main characters are serious and funny at the same time. Its a great mystery and a great ride to figure it out. It is short, engaging, and funny. Can't wait for the next one. Mickey on Amazon

Like another reviewer, I could not put the book down. I got into the book to the point I blew off Olympic action, feeding the dogs, and fixing lunch. This is a good book. Nate makes you like him, in spite of yourself. The story is focused on corruption, greed and lies in a small town in New England. The important people want to use Nate to investigate the death of a teenager, but only on their terms. The belief that Nate could not find his way out of a small closet is way off the mark. He is persistent and smart and he solves puzzles as they come up. At the same time, we see his difficulty with relationships. But, he is working on that. This is a good book. It is a page turner, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Texanne on Amazon


WARNING: Do not start reading this if you have something important to do! Could not put it down. Well, nothing to put down actually. I couldn't stop reading I should say since I used my PC monitor for the Kindle version. In the interest of full disclosure I know the author slightly and have been to his house in SF about other issues. Not really an influence on this review. In fact, I was prepared to be unimpressed. I knew he did some writing. I intended to scan through a couple chapters and get on with my busy life. Yeah, right. I got sucked in. A great story, intriguing mystery, well crafted, flows very well, good sense of place, believable characters you care about. A page turner perfect for a day at the beach. You won't be disappointed. Bob Bissett, Naples ID

The Fourth Conspirator Back Cover is DONE

COMMENTS APPRECIATED:

THE FOURTH CONSPIRATOR IS COMING!

LOOK FOR A SEPTEMBER 4, 2012 RELEASE OF MY NEW NOVEL: THE FOURTH CONSPIRATOR

HERE'S THE BACK COVER TEXT

When a small time crook is killed while ripping off a marijuana garden, attorney Nate Lewis takes the case of the shooter. Meanwhile, his wife, Christina Lima attempts to mediate her cousins’ battle for control of an upscale Mendocino winery. For Nate and Christina these two seemingly unrelated events will prove to be the ultimate test of their love and their faith.

An action-packed adventure story set in the borderland where the counterculture meets the underworld. The Fourth Conspirator by Barry Willdorf delivers a lyrical portrait of colorful characters with humor and tenderness. Jonah Raskin, author of Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American Drug War, and Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives  

A masterfully told, page-turning story that offers the reader in-depth development of its characters and a poignant examination of issues that we all have, or will confront sometime in our lives. A must-read novel. Stan Goldberg, Ph.D. author of the internationally award winning books, Lessons for the Living and Leaning Into Sharp Points.

The conclusion to Barry Willdorf's Trilogy thrill ride gets you high, takes you low and puts you smack in the middle of the 1970s Northern California weed and wine culture. Gritty and cosmic. Philosophical and heartbreaking. I want a prequel! Ransom Stephens, author of the best-seller, The God Patent and the forthcoming The Sensory Deception.

READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE FOURTH CONSPIRATOR

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that Part Three of the 1970s Trilogy, The Fourth Conspirator, will be published in September 2012.  Below is an excerpt. If you are a reviewer, contact me in the comment box and I will arrange for you to obtain a review copy. As always, comments for all readers are welcome.
Barry

The Fourth Conspirator

Prologue
When our daughter Natalie was ten, she asked me whether I thought trees had souls. I’d never even considered it. “What do you think?” I asked her. She was adamant. “God wouldn’t make any living things without souls. There would be no point in that. Without souls, you can’t get to heaven,” she said with the conviction of youth. She wanted trees in her heaven—one especially— the Dyerville Giant, her daddy’s tree.
     We were standing in a redwood grove in Humboldt County, California, beneath that very behemoth, when she said it. We made a pilgrimage there every year, in November. It was the tall- est tree in all the forest. In fact, some said it was the tallest in the entire world. It was a very old tree. Not the oldest living thing in the world, mind you, but when you get to be sixteen hundred years old, who’s counting?
     “What about your actual daddy?” I asked her.
     “I’m not sure there’s any difference when it comes to souls,” she said.
     My jaw dropped. She’s only ten! Where did she come up with that? Up to that point I’ d raised her Catholic, with a smattering of Jewish thrown in, but then it struck me. He’d believed he was one with that tree too. Was he speaking to me through her? Somehow, without her ever actually knowing Nate, she’d inherited a big piece of him. Had she become a little shaman? As I brooded on the possibilities, I couldn’t but reject every one except that it was Nate who was responsible for that pronouncement. I don’t know how he did it but I’m sure that he’d somehow transcended his death.
     I’d never mentioned that to her. But from that moment on, I waited for the day she’d take my hand and drag me along life’s path, just as Nate had done. And then, when she was twelve, she did just that and led me away from the tree.
     Before I met Nate, I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know what I could do. What I had was fear, a nagging expectation that my life would pass in failure and anonymity. I feared that I’d travel through this world alone and that if I had children my legacy would be that same bundle of fears. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to make my children’s lives any better than my own and that their world would be circumscribed by that place in the Atlantic Ocean where the sun came up, and the low rolling hills of Middlesex County in the west, where it went down. But my life changed for- ever one night, during an improbable dinner at an expensive restaurant—an eating place that I’d only seen by looking in through its glowing windows. I felt like Cinderella dining there.
     Nate, for all his faults, and he sure had plenty of them, gave me the whole world as a gift. He pushed me to get the education that had been just a dream before. He encouraged me to assert my- self, to confront danger and to overcome my fears. I don’t believe he was ever really conscious of what he gave me. He was just Nate. When she was old enough, I took Natalie on long trips so she could meet all of her uncles and aunts. I took her to Portugal, to its islands in the Atlantic, to Tangiers and even to Israel. I wanted her to discover her full heritage and when I did, I learned more about myself. If it weren’t for her, our Natalie, I’d be...bereft.
     You’ll have to forgive me. There was a time when I had a way with words. The right ones just fell out of the sky . You might say the words I needed always rained on me. I opened my mouth. They dropped onto my tongue as I spoke. What I said made sense. People always complemented me on how...eloquent—yes, that’s the word they used—I could be.
     That’s no longer the case. It all changed when I got hurt. The words stopped raining on me. Now I have to hunt for them. Some- times it takes me a while to find the one I want. Sometimes I can’t find it no matter what. I take so long now, I’m not influential any- more. People wonder about me.
     The accident—I prefer to call it that now—didn’t help my looks either. Thank God I had enough money to fix up my face. I don’t think it looks bad at all. I’d ask me out. But I’d also say “No” because I don’t want to get into a relationship. I’ve said “No” plenty of times. Even so, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to look terrific. I want to be asked and I want to say “No.” It gives me a perverse pleasure. I realize that makes me sound like I’m a nut case, but I know what I’m doing. I’m too hard to live with now. I have these mood swings where I have to grit my teeth and tell my- self “Control, Christina, goddamn it, control, control.” Sometimes I can. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes my language gets foul. And I can be fierce too. It wouldn’t matter how good I could make my- self look. I’d scare the pants off any sensible suitor and frankly I wouldn’t want the ones who’d have me in spite of my baggage.
     No. I had one great love in my life. I’ll be forever grateful for having Nate. And I have a souvenir of that love in Natalie. Every day, even at her worst, she’s a blessing. So I say the same prayers, the Catholic ones and the Jewish ones, whenever I see Nate in her eyes or in her petulant expressions or when she says those things that have me convinced she learned them from him.

 A Shot In The Arm is featured today on Highlighted Author. Click the link. Read the interview. Highlighted Author

On the shelf at Bird & Beckett bookstore!

Yeah! Many thanks to Eric for giving me this shelf-space beneath Tina Fey and above Noam Chomsky at Bird & Beckett.
653 Chenery Street  San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 586-3733
in beautiful Glen Park. Where you actually still can park. (He's got them at sale prices too!)

ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK

"Hearing about how great your new novels are! Bob downloaded the free download and liked it so much, had to buy the next one." Anonymous in Idaho.

VBT for A Shot In The Arm - An interview with Barry Willdorf

Thursday, May 24, 2012

VBT for A Shot In The Arm - An interview with Barry Willdorf

Hey beautiful people!

I showcased this book here last week, and today I'm pleased to welcome the man behind the story, author Barry Willdorf. Barry's answered my interview questions, and I've loved reading his deep, heart-felt answers.

Read on for a glimpse into his mind!

Tell us a bit about you, and something we don't know/wouldn't expect about you.

I am a winner of a Global E-book award in historical fiction and also an EPIC finalist for The Flight of the Sorceress (Wild Child Publishing).  The first two parts of my 1970s Trilogy (mystery/suspense genre) have been published by Whiskey Creek Press, and Part Three is currently in edit. I also have published an e-book called See You In Court, to help non-lawyers to understand what is really going on in a courtroom and not rely on media myths. It’s available on Smashwords and Scribd for a buck. I am a semi-retired trial lawyer with over forty years of in-court experience. I have been an editor for Matthew Bender and a co-author of several legal publications. Before I became a lawyer, I was a criminal investigator in NYC. My life experiences include being the first surfer on Cape Ann, MA, deckhand on a charter fishing boat, and hand-building my own home in Mendocino County. 

Wow! That's quite an impressive resume you've got there!

What’s your favorite moment of the day, and why?

When I get into bed and go to sleep. I like to pass out in comfort.

You're a color – which one are you and why?

I’m a chameleon. What do you expect from a lawyer?

Lol! Of course, that'd be fitting!

Why become a writer?

I’m not advocating it. It’s not for everybody, and these days a writer can’t just write but has to be a self-promoter and entrepreneur. In my opinion forcing writers who prefer to create into becoming shills, carney’s and small business people is a great way to insure that we don’t produce a lot of quality literature.

As writers, we are bombarded with ideas every minute of every day. How do you sort through these ideas, to stick to the 'viable' ones?

You need more than an idea to write. If that was all it took, we’d be producing 50,000 books a day instead of 1500. An idea requires a plan to implement it. You still need a plot that works. You need to do research. Ideas are a dime a dozen. I start with a story I want to tell. I work ideas into it. Usually I delete them by the fourth or fifth edit. It’s like having a brilliant dream. You wake up and realize it’s a pile of crap. Something inside is playing a game with you, telling you that you’ve just dreamed the great American novel. Freud didn’t know what he was talking about. Minds play games just to screw with their hosts. It’s not personal. It’s just what minds do, and believe it or not, we all have just about the same thoughts. It’s banal, but that’s how come some books resonate.

How do you develop an idea into a book?

Like I said, I have stories I want to tell. For example, my trilogy. In Burning Questions I wanted to tell about crooked real estate development and how some folks saw a town full of poor fishermen and thought, jeez, what a great place for summer homes. We can kick the shit out of the poor suckers who live here and they won’t know what hit them. It will be easy money. And so they will treat those in the lower classes with contempt, whenever necessary to make their killing. It’s a story I know. So I wanted to tell it, but without polemics. In A Shot In The Arm, I tell the story of how we all deal with race, and in the end (I’m not giving away the story) but even the good guys avoid confronting their racial privileges. Part Three, The Fourth Conspirator, is about family values. Like when somebody is killed, the cops look at the family members first for a suspect. That’s the reality behind the political bullshit we always hear about from politicians and pundits. That’s how I figure out what to write about.

If there's one book you wish you had written, which one is it and why that book in particular?

All Quiet on the Western Front. I was a civilian defense counsel during the Vietnam War and defended a lot of destroyed combat vets over a four-year period. I met a lot of young men who went into the service true believers and came out feeling betrayed, ripped off and burned. That’s what happens. It happened to Paul Bauer in the novel and he committed suicide by KIA. Others use drugs, or just beat the shit out of their wives until the cops cart them off. But it all comes down to the same thing. We say we’re supporting our troops by buying them a beer or pinning a medal on them, or giving them a parade. But when the hoopla is gone there’s just these guys alone and without the help they need. Not just in this country. It happens with vets everywhere.

It's a real-life tragedy, innit? More people should be bringing this plight to light.

Which is easier for you – narrative, or dialogue?

I don’t have a problem with either one. As a novelist you’re in control of both.

Preferred genre to write?

I like good clever mysteries and suspense. I like it well written, with tight narrative, a plot that makes sense, facts that are real and not made-up bullshit and believable characters. I like men who can fix plumbing and blondes who are neither ditzes nor femme fatales. No caricatures, no clichés.

How do you get into your characters' heads and shoes?

Being a trial lawyer and doing all kinds of cases from homicides to Ponzi schemes, I’ve met all kinds. I don’t have a problem getting grist for the character mill. My job was to get into people’s heads and also to walk in their shoes. Otherwise I couldn’t present a credible case.

That's amazing insight into the mind of a lawyer - thanks!

Drafts, edits, polishing – love or loathe? Can you please explain?

I am, never finished. I always want the prose tighter, the material clearer, the dialogue more real.

What unique factor do you think you bring to the book/story market?

I am trying to bring social and political issues to my readers in a way that doesn’t punch them in the face. I don’t want them to notice what they are learning from looking at issues from a different point of view. I want my books to provoke self-discovery, in the context of traditional genres.

Best advice you've received, and that you'd want others to know?

Don’t give up your day job.

Tell us about your latest release

My most recent novel is A Shot In The Arm. It’s part 2 of a trilogy called the 1970s Trilogy, even though part 1 is set in the Fall of 1969. I’m relying on comments by observers that the 60s were over in 1968, after the election of Nixon. Anyway, my two protagonists, Nate and Christina, are in San Francisco in 1973 living together in a rundown part of town, the Mission, Nate’s a lawyer operating out of a storefront. Christina’s at SF State. When a pretty young addict is found dead in her bed from an overdose, her treatment counselor, a black militant, is charged with providing her with drugs for sex. Nate is paid to defend him but learns too late that his retainer was stolen from rogue government agents involved in dealing drugs to buy guns for anti-communist guerrillas. There’s a lot of pushback from the agents and more than one death. But the kicker is how my protagonists behave based on the race of the client. Here are some reviews:

"A Shot In The Arm delivers a dark murder plot with characters that are right on the money." Mark Rudd, author of Underground: My life in SDS and the Weathermen.

"The legal details are sharp; the drinking and drugging and low life neighborhoods are Day-Glo vivid."  Meredith Sue Willis, author of Ten Strategies to Write Your Novel and Out of the Mountains.

"A detective story with a sense of geography, a sense of morality, and a sense of humor." Frances Lefkowitz, author of To Have Not.

"Gripping. Exciting. Add 'A Shot in the Arm' to the classic tales of the City by the Bay." Hilton Obenzinger, author of Cannibal Eliot and the Lost Histories of San Francisco and Busy Dying.

In 5 words:

      Your book: A Shot in the Arm
      Your heroine: Christina, poor, Portuguese, smart and tough
      Your hero: Nate, inexperienced young lawyer, finds trouble.
      You as an author: humorous, historically accurate, gritty

Let's say your book is a movie – which one does it most closely resemble?

Maltese Falcon

What real-life actors are playing the roles?

I don’t cast movies.

Now this movie needs a soundtrack – what songs/tracks best fit your book?

I like Steve Earle’s stuff. I’d go country on the white side and some Miles Davis, Winton Marsalis for the ghetto scenes.

Your characters end up in a world where everyone's a fashionista – how do they dress and what are they wearing?

You have to read the book to find out how they dress. I describe it many times.

Where can we find you and your books?

You can find me at the following places:

For further information, contact Barry S. Willdorf: barrywilldorf@gmail.com/ or visit

A Gauche Press, 1970s Trilogy, Flight of the Sorceress and See You In Court.

A Shot In The Arm and Burning Questions are available in print and as e-books from the publisher: http://whiskeycreekpress.com/, Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The Flight of the Sorceress is available at Wild Child Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. They are all in both print and as e-books. You can get See You In Court from Smashwords and Scribd.

It's been lovely to have you over today, Barry! I look forward to checking your books out, and I hope the readers here will take a chance on your stories too.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee